


On Any Given day

by Kivan



Series: Andreil Week 2019 [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andreil Week 2019, Hopeful Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 02:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19714024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kivan/pseuds/Kivan
Summary: "If it had been any other day, Andrew may have never known Neil Josten."





	On Any Given day

**Author's Note:**

> For Andreil Week 2019- Day 1, Alternate Meeting.  
> I'm going to try, real hard.

Day1-AlternateMeeting; “Any Given Day”

If they’d met differently, maybe it wouldn’t have hurt as much when it happened.

 _Maybe_ , a voice very similarly to Bee’s sighs in the back of his mind.

If they hadn’t met- on the third Wednesday in March, when it was raining so hard, he could hear the water in the other man’s shoes _squelch_ as he walked into the café- maybe Andrew would have been in a different café. But as it had happened, this was the café, just around the block from the studio where Renee taught self-defense on Wednesday. And the third Wednesday of every month was the one that Renee assigned for them to meet for lunch to catch up (or _keep up_ as she tried to call it) since he had left the studio where he had taught boxing for a short few months. He liked boxing, and the release of the controlled violent activity- but he was not a patient teacher, as Kevin reminded him often.

If they had met differently, maybe he wouldn’t have just text Renee that he was there, and he wouldn’t have set his phone back on the table. If it had been a different day, or it hadn’t been raining, maybe Neil wouldn’t have slipped.

If they’d met differently, or later in life, Andrew would never have become more acquainted with Neil’s habits to run and run and hope to outrun his ghosts when sleep just wasn’t the option to make his mind stop buzzing and he would become sloppy and fatigued physically, if not mentally. _Maybe_ , Bee’s voice whispers quizzically.

Maybe Neil wouldn’t have knocked into his table, thankfully not spilling his coffee- which was in his hand, halfway to his mouth- his phone and keys clattering to the hardwood floor instead and Neil stumbling down next to them.

If they’d met differently, a few months later, maybe Andrew would have had just enough time to work through his self-loathing through Aaron’s last trials. Because after nearly years of them working on _talking_ , _communicating_ , and the charges being thrown out, maybe he would have done more than stare down at the auburn-haired mess on the floor, as Neil picked up his phone and keys and the contents of his own hands.

But maybe, if they’d met differently, Andrew never would have finally spoken in his sessions with Aaron. Maybe he never would have found the stomach or self-worth to even attempt testifying and to open his mouth in front of those stupid strangers. To say it all, in front of Aaron. Maybe he would have never known how much he needed to be told it wasn’t his fault, if Neil hadn’t whispered it to him one night in the dark. Bee would hum in agreement, probably.

But maybe if they’d met differently, Neil wouldn’t have smiled like that, his blue eyes shining like he’d finally lost it, as he handed Andrew back his keys and phone, before apologizing softly and ducking into the slowly growing line. Any other day, that perfect and terrible image wouldn’t have been the first impression burned into Andrew’s mind for the rest of his life.

If it had been a different day, Renee wouldn’t have arrived shortly after, just as wet and smiled sweetly as she got her own drink. She wouldn’t have met Neil in the line and shared a brief exchange with him. And then the next day, which was still a different day- she wouldn’t have been the one to tell help them reconnect after realizing that Andrew’s phone, was not Andrew’s phone but in fact Neil’s nearly identical one.

If it had been any other day, Nicky would not have gotten involved, as he left Renee’s class and then invited the both to a dinner party. His cousin and Neil were apparently in the same profession.

If it had been any other day, Andrew may have never known Neil Josten- or Alex, Steffen, Chris- or Nathaniel Wesninski.

 _But if it had been any other day, maybe it would have happened anyway_ , Bee whispers to him again.

Maybe it could have been any day, and the web that had already surrounded them- his cousin, their friends, _fucking_ _Kevin’s_ charity cases- would have collapsed just that easily. And maybe he would have loved him anyway, on any given day.


End file.
